World of Wong Kar Wai

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
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DarkImbecile
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World of Wong Kar Wai

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:32 pm

cowboydan's reference guide to the original versions of WKW's films

Criterion's presentation of revised versions

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With his lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism, Wong Kar Wai has established himself as one of the defining auteurs of contemporary cinema. Joined by such key collaborators as cinematographer Christopher Doyle; editor and production and costume designer William Chang Suk Ping; and actors Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Wong (or WKW, as he is often known) has written and directed films that have enraptured audiences and critics worldwide and inspired countless other filmmakers with their poetic moods and music, narrative and stylistic daring, and potent themes of alienation and memory. Whether they’re tragically romantic, soaked in blood, or quirkily comedic, the seven films collected here are an invitation into the unique and wistful world of a deeply influential artist.

SEVEN-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES
  • New 4K digital restorations of Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046, approved by director Wong Kar Wai, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD
  • Master Audio soundtracks
  • New 4K digital restorations of As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
  • New program in which Wong answers questions submitted, at the invitation of the director, by authors André Aciman and Jonathan Lethem; filmmakers Sofia Coppola, Rian Johnson, Lisa Joy, and Chloé Zhao; cinematographers Philippe Le Sourd and Bradford Young; and filmmakers and founders/creative directors of Rodarte Kate and Laura Mulleavy
  • Alternate version of Days of Being Wild featuring different edits of the film’s prologue and final scenes, on home video for the first time
  • Hua yang de nian hua, a 2000 short film by Wong
  • Extended version of The Hand, a 2004 short film by Wong, available in the U.S. for the first time
  • Interview and “cinema lesson” with Wong from the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
  • Three making-of documentaries, featuring interviews with Wong; actors Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chang Chen, Faye Wong, and Ziyi Zhang; and others
  • Episode of the television series Moving Pictures from 1996 featuring Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle
  • Interviews from 2002 and 2005 with Doyle
  • Excerpts from a 1994 British Film Institute audio interview with Cheung on her work in Days of Being Wild
  • Program from 2012 on In the Mood for Love’s soundtrack
  • Press conference for In the Mood for Love from the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
  • Deleted scenes, alternate endings, behind-the-scenes footage, a promo reel, music videos, and trailers
    PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a perfect-bound, French-fold book featuring lavish photography, an essay by critic John Powers, a director’s note, and six collectible art prints
    New cover by Nessim Higson

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zedz
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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#2 Post by zedz » Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:27 pm

R0lf wrote:
Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:32 pm
Press release for the Janus Wong Kar Wai tour lists AS TEARS GO BY, DAYS OF BEING WILD, CHUNGKING EXPRESS, FALLEN ANGELS, HAPPY TOGETHER, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, and a new director’s cut of THE HAND - presumably it’s been extended into a full length movie?.

(It also lists Ritrovata as the restoration house so people might want to hang on to their previous blu rays until the set drops in case it’s a complete disaster of baked in colour fuckery.)

Shame that it looks like we’re not getting 2046.
Or Ashes of Time.

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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#3 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:56 pm

R0lf wrote:
Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:32 pm
Press release for the Janus Wong Kar Wai tour lists AS TEARS GO BY, DAYS OF BEING WILD, CHUNGKING EXPRESS, FALLEN ANGELS, HAPPY TOGETHER, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, and a new director’s cut of THE HAND - presumably it’s been extended into a full length movie?.
A one-hour version premiered at the Beijing Film Festival in 2018, so it'll probably be that paired with another film (In the Mood for Love, I imagine).

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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#4 Post by R0lf » Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:58 pm

zedz wrote:
Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:27 pm
Or Ashes of Time.
Yeah, I know it was always a long shot but I hoped they’d release one of the original ASHES OF TIME cuts. I loathe that they made REDUX a “good taste” cut of the film replacing the amazing electronic score and using coloured gels. It made me question if WKW needs to be placed in the Dario Argento camp of complete hack directors who somehow manage to assemble a great production talent around them for a short amount of time.

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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#5 Post by black&huge » Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:54 pm

How in the hell did Ritrovata get to handle the WKW restos?

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#6 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:56 pm

I mean, Happy Together would have to be timed less yellow to even notice their hand at least

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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#7 Post by dwk » Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:57 pm

Most likely because they have a Hong Kong branch.

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kcota17
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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#8 Post by kcota17 » Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:08 pm

But with Wong Kar-Wai overseeing the restorations hopefully it should be fine right?

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#9 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:10 pm

Someone ping William Friedkin to answer that

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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#10 Post by swo17 » Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:18 pm

Great, now he's going to Ashes of Time all of his movies

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senseabove
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Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#11 Post by senseabove » Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:12 pm

Good news! Ritrovata says they did not do the color grading on a post about the series on Ritrovata Asia's FB page:
"4K restoration by L’Immagjne Ritrovata, L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia.
Colour grading by One Cool Production"

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Murdoch
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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#12 Post by Murdoch » Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:35 pm

I'll echo the disappointment that this won't include 2046. I don't think there's any Western HD release and it's a film that sorely needs one.

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#13 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:09 pm

2046 would be the main reason I’d buy this (and seeing Ashes of Time restored and in a different cut would be the second) but Fallen Angels is excellent, and everything else is good to great too.. it’s just a missed opportunity (or two) and a great disappointment.

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Clarence
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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#14 Post by Clarence » Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:56 pm

Unless something's happened, 2046 and Ashes of Time are still with Sony. This is probably just an issue of Janus not having theatrical rights for those films. I couldn't imagine they wouldn't still be coming as part of the box set since Criterion seems to have a good working relationship with Sony.

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#15 Post by Ashirg » Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:47 am

What are the chances of his last 2 films being included? My Blueberry Nights (never released in blu-ray in US; The Weinstein Company, so I guess now owned by Lantern Entertainment) and The Grandmaster (also released by The Weinstein Company/Lantern Entertainment).

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#16 Post by R0lf » Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:15 am

Murdoch wrote:
Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:35 pm
I'll echo the disappointment that this won't include 2046. I don't think there's any Western HD release and it's a film that sorely needs one.
2046 hasn’t had a HD release anywhere; the Korean version is an SD transfer on a blu ray disc.

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#17 Post by Murdoch » Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:44 am

Oh jeez, didn't know that. What a shame.

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#18 Post by MichaelB » Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:01 am

Ashirg wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:47 am
What are the chances of his last 2 films being included? My Blueberry Nights (never released in blu-ray in US; The Weinstein Company, so I guess now owned by Lantern Entertainment) and The Grandmaster (also released by The Weinstein Company/Lantern Entertainment).
Zero, I hope, since I have BDs of them already.

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#19 Post by swo17 » Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:38 am

I mean, I could say the same thing about Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together. The slimmer the filmography, the more glaring the omissions

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#20 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:49 am

There's also no good Blu-ray of the original—and, to my mind, best—version of The Grandmaster, though if the film does get a new release I suspect it would be the pre-Weinstein international cut (which was pretty well represented on the English-subtitled Korean BD).

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#21 Post by zedz » Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:49 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:49 am
There's also no good Blu-ray of the original—and, to my mind, best—version of The Grandmaster, though if the film does get a new release I suspect it would be the pre-Weinstein international cut (which was pretty well represented on the English-subtitled Korean BD).
I'm pretty sure I've got a BD of the original cut (I've got three different cuts on three different BluRays), but there's a good chance with that film of there being more than three cuts!

(Or did you mean there is a BD of the first cut, but it isn't any good?)

I can't imagine many people are clamouring to rediscover My Blueberry Nights, but if it's the only thing standing in the way of completion, might as well bung it in. Maybe there's a 'director's cut' that consists mostly of footage from a better film?

His BMW film is presumably out of bounds, but that would be a fun inclusion.

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Re: Forthcoming: WKW Box

#22 Post by tenia » Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:06 pm

There are seemingly at least 4 available cuts of The Grandmaster on BD : 108 min (US, UK, Australia), 123 min (Europe, South Korea, Japan) and 130 min (HK) with 2 different soundtracks. The Kor 123 min release and the HK 130 min release both have English subs, and the US 108 min obviously has too.
I don't know exactly about how the HK releases fare, but I doubt it'd be very different from how the other cuts are presented (given how recent the movie is and that it was finalised digitally) and the few compressed screencaps I found of the 130 min cut suggest it's indeed pretty much OK.

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Re: Forthcoming: Wong Kar-wai Box

#23 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:27 pm

There are two Hong Kong releases, but they're both the same disc—for some reason the original 2013 release went OOP almost immediately and they finally repressed it in 2018. There was also a Thai release, but that again was the same disc as the HK version, which includes Thai language options. The 2013 edition had a sticker on the front boasting "New Music & Sound Effect" [sic], since the theatrical mix was rushed and they revisited it for the home release. The only difference I noticed is that the Morricone tracks were replaced by newly-recorded versions, instead of the existing recordings on the theatrical version. The encode (which was also used for the Taiwanese release, the only Blu of the 130-minute cut that isn't a duplicate of the HK disc) has truly atrocious grain management, some examples of which can be seen here. I did my own comparison back in the day with an x264 bootleg of the mainland Chinese theatrical release and the latter fared better despite being compressed down to the size of a DVD-5; on the Blu-ray you get things like chunks of the actors' limbs disappearing due to overzealous DNR. The U.S. and Korean BDs are leagues ahead by comparison.
Last edited by The Fanciful Norwegian on Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Forthcoming: Wong Kar-wai Box

#24 Post by zedz » Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:36 pm

Yeah, I have that HK disc, but I think it does have the revised soundtrack, so the very first version of the film might not have ever been released on home video. Though if that's the case, then presumably WKW considers it a 'work in progress' rather than a finished cut. Did the original soundtrack ever get commercial screenings, or was it only shown at festivals?

EDIT: The Fanciful Norwegian answered all my questions while I was typing. Thanks!

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Re: Forthcoming: Wong Kar-wai Box

#25 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:42 pm

One thing I'll add regarding the original, un-remixed theatrical version: I didn't notice any editorial differences with the version on the HK Blu, but some of the title cards are worded differently, with the biggest difference being that the one at the very end ("Ip Man was a huge inspiration to others," etc.) has an additional bit at the beginning that reads "1972—Ip Man dies in Hong Kong." That struck me as rather poignant and I missed it in the revised version.

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